I have read that a black plantain will be easy to peal. It will peal like a banana. This hasn't been my experience. They are hard and woody. Am I getting bad plantains? How do I get good ones? Do they ALWAYS turn yellow and then black or do some go from green to black? Mine went from green to black and so maybe that is the problem?

I've only ever used green plantains. I make a cut from top to bottom and pull apart the peel with my fingertips. I have had some that I kept too long and it never turned yellow but black.

I prefer the yellow ones. I noticed that in different temperatures they ripen differently. In the winter they ripen more slowly. I don't know if your black plantains are bad or not but maybe they are hard because they are in cooler temperatures? Just a guess. When we had black plantains they were easy to peel when it was warm out.

Me again
Plantains are ripe when they are black. Yellow is of course the in between.
I use green to fry because they seem to fry better and not taste as sweet.
I found that out when all the store had was yellow and I used them and they were sweeter and wilty. They were still good but not how we like them as we top them with salt and garlic.

Try shredding green plantains and dropping by spoonsful into hot oil. They are absolutely yummy with some salt. They are called aranita's translation is little spiders which is what they look like with shaggy little legs. If you have black or ripe plantains cut them in pieces and saute in butter. Smash them down a little. The are known as maduros or mature plantains. The green ones are also great cut up, cooked a little and then smashed flat and cooked again. These are called tostones.

Araņitas are a variation of the tostones recipe. In Spanish, araņitas means little spiders and the recipe gets its name from the shredded plantain, which looks like spider legs when fried. Serve araņitas with a garlic dipping sauce.
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients: